Jolt of Lightning (Metaphor)
At the beginning of the second section, Li Lan comments that "a jolt of lightning" runs through her; this is a metaphor meant to communicate the violence of her experience of realizing that she was disconnected from her own body, and how being distant from her body caused her to forget who she even was.
River Between Us Like the Milky Way (Simile)
Discussing how far apart she and Tian Bai are after the events in the spirit world, Li Lan comments that there "is a river between us, however, like the Milky Way that separates the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid," using a simile to emphasize the vastness of the distance between them, a distance that she suggests cannot be crossed.
Distorted Panes of Glass (Simile)
Li Lan uses a simile to describe how the physical and spiritual worlds have irrecoverably come together for her, saying that "My two worlds overlap like distorted panes of glass."
Translucent Jellyfish (Simile)
When Li Lan returns from the spirit world, she gets the sense that even though she cannot see the spirit world, she can sense it, resulting in her comment that "It crossed my mind that these sensations were caused by spirits and that they hung, translucent as jellyfish, in the very air that I passed through."
Sea of Grass (Metaphor)
Multiple times in the book, Li Lan refers to the Plains of the Dead as being a "sea of grass," for example: "The sea of brittle grass stalks moved restlessly in the wind." In doing this, she emphasizes the seeming endlessness of the Plains of the Dead, and how the grass is so monotonous and all-encompassing that it is as overwhelming as the sea.
